Longer path name area in "export animation" window

[Hoptoad]

When I export animations, the destination path names are always truncated in the "export animation" window.
This is obviously because I have overly long pathways to my destination folders in Dropbox.

I've renamed folders to shorter names, and I've also used shorter Moho file names, and that helped some. . .

But it would be awesome if there was another twenty or thirty character spaces allotted for path identification, so I could be more descriptive in my file names.

Thanks.

[Greenlaw]

I prefer using Moho Exporter because it has significantly more features and options than Export Animation. One of these features is being able to display long file and path names...



FYI, I don't normally use long names as shown above but this example shows how it works. In fact, I can make this path even longer if I had to.

When Moho Exporter is launched, it will load all open and saved projects automatically. By default, Moho will clip extra long names but you can resize the columns to show the full names as I did here.

Hope this helps.

[Greenlaw]

In general, I avoid using long file names, and instead I use short but descriptive naming conventions which tells me all I need to know about a file.

If it's a single scene for a larger project, I typically use only the scene number. For example s001.moho.

My file structure is something like this...

watermelonCat [folder with project name]
> s001 [folder with scene name]
>> WIP [work-in-progress folder]
>>> s001_v01.moho [work file]
>>> s001_v02.moho
>> s001.moho [master file for rendering]

If I have multiple productions going on at the same time, I might replace the 's' with another letter. In this case, I'd probably use 'w' for watermelon.

The WIP folder is where I keep the incremented versions of the project (s001_v01, s001_v02, etc.); these are the files I work in.

When I'm ready to render, I save a copy of my latest work file outside of WIP and I leave the version number off the file name (s001.moho). This is the 'master' version of the project that gets loaded into Moho Exporter. The reason I drop the version number is because Moho will always try to save the output file using the full project file name which, IMO, is super annoying because this prevents Moho from properly overwriting previous versions of the rendered files. Having multiple versions of a rendered project in the same folder can really mess things up for compositing artists. (I would like to see Moho add a place in Project Settings for a preferred file name and output directory. This way, Moho Exporter can simply re-use EXACTLY the naming format and output path desired by the artist for that project file every time.)

If you maintain this workflow, the production should run smoothly and predictably to the end.

[Hoptoad]

Thank you. I had once been aware that the Moho Exporter existed, but as I never used it, I eventually forgot about it. I think Moho Exporter will do the trick.

And thanks for the information about how you name scenes. After misplacing a couple scenes somewhere I am presently trying to be more organized with my files, and your examples gave me a couple good ideas.

[Hoptoad]

. . .I would like to see Moho add a place in Project Settings for a preferred file name and output directory. This way, Moho Exporter can simply re-use EXACTLY the naming format and output path desired by the artist for that project file every time. . .

I second that.

If you maintain this workflow, the production should run smoothly and predictably to the end.

Heh. In my work environment, "smoothly and predictably" occupy the same mythical space as a pegasus. We know what it looks like, sure, but we've never actually seen it.

[Greenlaw]

Ha ha, glad that info helps.

Yeah, Moho Exporter shouldn't be overlooked...it actually does a lot of things more intelligently than the regular Export Animation command, especially if you render for compositing. If I have time tonight, I'll compile a list with explanations like above.